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The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today's Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including ExxonMobil, Caterpillar and Union Pacific. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

ExxonMobil’s shares have underperformed the Zacks Integrated Oil industry (-6.1% vs. -0.2%) as well as peer Chevron (-2.7%) in the last three months. ExxonMobil has a leading position in the energy industry owing to the size and diversity of its asset base, both in terms of business mix and geographical footprint.

With a stable cash position, the company’s balance sheet is one of the best in the industry. The Zacks analyst likes the fact that the integrated energy firm has combined its refining & marketing businesses. This will allow the company to take better decisions and boost performance. ExxonMobil will generate more cashflow from downstream activities, also helping it counter the volatility in its upstream business.

Shares of Buy-rated Caterpillar have gained +55.5% over the past one year, outperforming the Zacks Construction and Mining industry which has increased +53.2% over the same period. Caterpillar reported a rise of 34% in global retail sales for the three months ended January 2018, at par with the performance witnessed in December 2017 and at levels last seen in August 2011.

Backed by strong order rates, lean dealer inventories and strong backlog, Caterpillar projects EPS in $8.25-$9.25 range for 2018, a 27% year-over-year rise at the mid-point. The Construction segment will benefit from continued improvement in North American residential, non-residential and infrastructure markets.

Buy-rated Union Pacific’s shares have outperformed the Zacks Rail industry as well as fellow railroad operator Norfolk Southern Corporation over the last six months. While Union Pacific has gained 22.4%, the industry it belongs to and Norfolk Southern have rallied 10.3% and 16.9%, respectively, in the same time period.

Ushering in further good news, Union Pacific's earnings per share as well as revenues increased in the fourth quarter of 2017. Higher freight revenues on the back of volume growth contributed to the uptick.

Also, in February 2018, the company announced its decision to increase quarterly dividends which is encouraging. In fact, this is the company’s second dividend hike in three months. The new tax law is also a positive for the company. Its efforts to promote safety and enhance productivity are noteworthy as well. However, declining automotive volumes and high debt levels are concerning.

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Alexion and Sanofi.

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Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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At the center of everything we do is a strong commitment to independent research and sharing its profitable discoveries with investors. This dedication to giving investors a trading advantage led to the creation of our proven Zacks Rank stock-rating system. Since 1988 it has more than doubled the S&P 500 with an average gain of +25% per year. These returns cover a period from 1988-2017. Zacks Rank stock-rating system returns are computed monthly based on the beginning of the month and end of the month Zacks Rank stock prices plus any dividends received during that particular month. A simple, equally-weighted average return of all Zacks Rank stocks is calculated to determine the monthly return. The monthly returns are then compounded to arrive at the annual return. Only Zacks Rank stocks included in Zacks hypothetical portfolios at the beginning of each month are included in the return calculations. Zack Ranks stocks can, and often do, change throughout the month. Certain Zacks Rank stocks for which no month-end price was available, pricing information was not collected, or for certain other reasons have been excluded from these return calculations.

Visit performance for information about the performance numbers displayed above.